I sette pilastri della saggezza

The title of Seven Pillars comes from the Bible, in the Book of Proverbs. This is Lawrence's personal narrative about the Arab revolt during World War I. A caveat: with all personal narratives come author perceptions that aren't necessarily aligned with reality. Lawrence's Seven Pillars is no different. He used unreliable sources in the form of diaries, journals, field notes, and most unreliable of all personal narratives, his memories. Yet, Lawrence goes to great pains to explain the process of his writing. In the spirit of artistic creation this is much appreciated.
I would be remiss if I didn't draw attention to the full page portraits and illustrations that are beyond fantastic executed in plaster, oils, charcoal, pencil, and photograph . Lawrence makes special mention of the artist, Kennington, who worked for five years on the majority of the illustrations.
As an aside, Revolt in the Desert is an abridgement of Seven Pillars. ( )

I was aware before starting that this was a somewhat unreliable account of the exploits of Lawrence on the Eastern Front during WWI but the Introduction introduced such a level of scepticism that it tainted my reading; I was forever wondering what was true, what was exaggerated, what entirely fabricated. The veracity of the account was challenged in a publication of 1955 that I don't have. I'd have much prefered to read a critical edition that put the book in the context of the known history so that truth and fiction could be easily separated - I don't know if such a thing exists, though.

Lawrence is at his best when describing landscape and action, at his worst when being judgemental, whether it be about history, peoples or individuals. The first half fled fairly fast but the second was a struggle for most of its length. It turns out that camel rides and raids on railways and bridges can become repetative and dull. Interest was re-ignited when the Allies turn up in force and events become novel again.

I know very little about WWI; my main impressions of it come from two books; All Quiet on the Western Front and this. The contrast between the Western and Eastern conflicts could hardly be greater, on this basis. The mud, trenches, gas attacks, whole-sale slaughter and stalemate of France and Belgium feel like a different world from the rock, sand, guerilla warfare and endless gadding about by horse, camel, plane and (Rolls Royce) car that Lawrence describes in the Middle East. Lawrence's account is rarely in the slightest bit romanticised, though, and hunger, thirst, battle and death are treated in a most matter-of-fact manner that contrasts both with the myth of Lawrence of Arabia on the one hand and the deliberately political and horrifying verse of Sassoon and his fellow War Poets. ( )

> Par Le Monde.fr : "Les Sept Piliers de la sagesse", de T. E. Lawrence : dans les pas de Lawrence d'Arabie
16 juil. 2009 ... L'auteur des "Sept Piliers de la sagesse" avait coupé et récrit son texte avant parution. C'est la version longue, plus facile à lire, qui nous est proposée aujourd'hui ...

Classic text on war with the Arabs, originally distributed privately, then publicly available in 1935 ( )

I first struggled through this book with great determination at the age of 12, smitten with the legend after having seen the David Lean movie. As Lawrence said himself, "purple prose." Absolutely beautiful. The obsession continued through to adulthood, and I came to embrace and love the real person through The Mint, Oriental Assembly, and some of the many biographies written about him, and mostly by reading his letters. I learned more about the history of the Middle East, became interested in E.M. Forster's writing, Kennington's wonderful portraits, Ur, and explored many other subjects, connections and viewpoints thanks to Lawrence. I read and eventually acquired my copies of Seven Pillars, Oriental Assembly, and T.E. Lawrence by His Friends through a relative I remember only dimly and was not old enough to seriously converse with while she lived. ( )